Abstract:
During the past two decades both developed and developing countries are
delegating responsibilities to lower-level governments as a component of public
service reforms. The earlier reforms emphasised decentralisation as improved
administration at sub-national levels. In contrast, the most recent decentralisations
are emphasising enhanced service delivery that demands capacitation of
municipalities. The article endeavours to utilise the theoretical connection amongst
decentralisation and capacity-building for a broadened analysis in a South African
context. The article emphasises political, fiscal and administrative decentralisation
in order to identify capacity gaps in the system. There are assumptions that “coupled
with the inexperience and weak capacity of local governments, decentralisation is
often blamed for not fulfilling its promises - and for not having a positive impact
on development” (Yilmaz et al. 2010:286). Against this background the article
analyses the relevant literature to argue that decentralisation can be considered as
a causative factor to enhance local government capacities.
